Rice breeding - having a billion dollar impact!

See http://aciar.gov.au/files/node/13941/... US$1.46 billion worth of rice a year as a result of research on rice varietal improvement by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI; http://irri.org) according to a report by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIARl; http://www.aciar.org). The assessment showed IRRI's improved rice varieties increased farmers' returns by US$127 a hectare in southern Vietnam, $76 a hectare in Indonesia and $52 a hectare in the Philippines.